Sunday, January 18, 2015

Hærvejen - Rødekro to Flensburg

Metadata:

Distance : 44 km
Date : 19 january 2013.
Trails trekked: Hærvejen, OchsenwegE1, E6.



In january 2013 my brother Adrian and I went for a winter walk. We took the train to Rødekro, and arrived at the station at roughly the same time that the sparse daylight hours began, roughly 8:30 in the morning.

We were to follow the Hærvejen / Ochsenweg south from Rødekro and continue along it through the day. The hærvejen was the main trading route in Jutland in the medieval period. Today the route is a popular hiking and biking route, and is also part of several international footpaths (namely the E1 and the E6 from the border and southwards) and pilgrimage routes.
The weather was a bit cold (-5 degrees), and windy and especially the wind chill factor (- 25 degrees)  was significant on this particular day.



The land was frozen and wintery, as we had several months with temperatures staying more or less constantly below zero. There was some snow, but not more than 25-30 centimeters on average, and although we had occasional very ligth snow showers during the day these added no more than one or two centimeters to the overall snow depths.

We had not walked more than 5 km down hærvejen before we had sufficient inner warmth being generated, for us to feel a bit hot dressed in the heavy winter jackets, and woolen caps. So we walked with the jackets unzipped and could still easily keep warm. Only on the open stretches did we have to zip our jackets as the wind chill could be felt in full strength on theses parts of the hike.

As we came to the outskirts of the village of Hjortkær we were about 7 km into the days hike and had travelled on very small backcountry roads, that were mostly covered with a thin layer of snow, and asphalt underneath that. The signs for the Hærvejen were very consistent and easy to see as no leafs or plants were covering them at this time of the year.

We followed the edge of the village southwards, never actually entering it. On the southeastern tip of the village there was a couple of benches by the road, and we stopped for a cup of coffee and a snack.


For the next kilometer we followed a county road with somewhat more traffic than the ones we had been on so far. However after this short stretch we found ourselves on a wide gravel road heading due south through the landscape, bypassing all human settlement.

From the ninth to the fourteenth kilometer the road was pretty exposed to the wind and we had a lot of 1 meter high snow dunes to traverse, with some of the taller ones being around 1,5 meters high. 



We passed a shelter along this stretch and also the ancient site of Urnehoved, which lay just beside the hærvejen, and had served as a tingsted (assembly place) for the entire southern part of Jutland during the middle ages. 
The tingsted is hidden in a small groove just besides the hærvejen. The site is placed on high grounds, relative to the surrounding landscape, and thus some nice views can be enjoyed.

From Urnehoved we continued southwards on the wide gravel road, and as we passed the 14 km mark for the day, we started walking alongside the western edge of Årtoft plantage, a planted forest.

As the hærvejen more or less follows the Jutlandic watershed, significantly reducing the number of streams and rivers to be crossed, a big advantage for the oxen herds that travelled along it in the past centuries.
A few old stone bridges exist along the path, and around 16,5 km we crossed one of these the Povlsbro (Pauls bridge). Here we took a break after clearing the snow off a bench, and enjoyed the nice bridge and stream.



Afterwards we bypassed Tinglev, and the path turned some kilometers westward. On this stretch the path shifted several times, from gravel road to, asphalt road, to industrial roads, and the to dirt tracks.

Shortly after crossing the 24 km mark, we were traversing a frozen field, on one of the stretches where the hærvejen was nothing more than a relatively narrow dirt path. We came to a place were a big pool of water had frozen covering a large section of the field. We stood a few moments and tried to decide whether to cross the ice, or circumvent it. As the pool was quite large, and it had been freezing temperatures for some time, we decided to cross the ice.

Adrian went first, and although the ice creaked and cracked some, he came over without problems. As I started crossing the icy stretch the ice started giving in, and liquid water started emerging. Although I more or less ran over the ice, my left foot went through the ice, and was submerged in water ankle high.



The next couple of kilometers I walked with the wet shoe and sock and around the 26 km mark I changed socks as the shoe was no longer wet, but instead partly frozen because of the water.
Luckily I only felt slight miscomfort on account of this incident, and was happy that it did not become an issue the rest of the hike.

A short distance after my icy footbath we reached the Bommerlund plantage forest. The first kilometer in the forest, we walked among young trees that grew in between the wrecked remains of the old plantation forest. That older forest partly annihilated by the 1999 hurricane that swept through Denmark.



Some 1,5 km into the forest we came to the county road leading to Kruså, and bearing the same name as our footpath "Hærvejen". The road and the path converged for about an kilometer, and we found an abandoned souvenir shop at the edge of the forest, where a couple of benches made a pleasant surprise for a little break.
We still had some lukewarm coffee in the canteen, and some food in our bags, and spent some 15 minutes eating and checking the routes for the next part of hike.
From the souvenir shop we had about 4 kilometers through the forest, with the path running parallel to the county road some a bit west of it and some times a bit east of it, but never more than a couple of hundred meters from it.

As we left Bommerlund plantage the evening slowly approaching. We had a nice view towards the bordertowns of Padborg and neighbouring Kruså.
The next kilometer was a bit of boring industrial landscape, with truckstops and logistics centers. After this short section, where we also passed the jutlandic moterway (Jyske motervej) and after a couple of kilometers of hiking through low and not so dense forests we came to the hamlet of Bov.

We went through the hamlet and decended into a small and narrow valley on the southeastern outskirts of Bov.
In the bottom of the valley we crossed from Denmark and into Germany, a border marked only by a small bridge and a couple of signs.



As we entered Germany all the daylight was gone, and we ascended the far side of the valley in darkness. We came to a small german hamlet and started looking for some public transportation in direction of nearby Flensburg. However we ended walking more then 5 kilometers more through the dimly lit suburbs of Flensburg before finding a bus stop from where we could take a bus to the city centre.
In Flensburg we had time to eat some nice hot dinner followed by a big dessert, before departing for Odense around 22:30. A couple of trains, and some hours later we arrived in Odense about 1:00 in the night - 19 hours after leaving the same station.


Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Fernet Ramblers - Autumn 2014 Stage - Korsør to Sorø

Stage metadata

Date: 5. october 2014.
Number of Ramblers: 3
Number of km trekked: 48,1 km (my map is reconstructed and underestimates the distance, which Thorsen tracked throughout the day).
Time spent: 12 h 25 min.
Average speed (including breaks): 3,9 km/h
Paths trekked: E6, Sjællandsleden.
Amount of Fernet Branca consumed: 0,7 liter



The first round of hiking executed under the framework of Fernet Rambles took me, Carsten and Ture from Korsør on the West coast of Zealand and 48 km inland to the city of Sorø.We started out at the trainstation in Korsør where the E6 on Seeland starts and follows the path of the older Sjællandsleden which traverses the entire island from west to east.
The E6 is a transeuropean footpath that stretches from Greece to Finland. 



After 3 km of hiking along a path that was running parallel to the railway we came to Svenstrup. A village streching across the thin branch of land that seperates Korsør Nor from Storebælt. From Svenstrup we went towards the shore of Storebælt. Just short of the 5 km mark we found a bench, and retrieved our signature Fernet Branca from my bag. 
Here we had a nice view on Storebælt. With somewhat calm sea and only a hint of wind we had plenty of opportunity to enjoy the scenery. 





From here we followed the coast for a short stretch, and being utterly consumed in conversation, we missed the unmarked path along the beach, that was the E6 (which was at large stretches of this stage appallingly badly marked). Instead we went back inland to the village of Frølunde and then went due east over backcountry roads before rejoining the E6 shortly after the 10 km mark in Forlev Marsk, where we were passed by numerous military vehicles. 
From here the backcountry roads continued and heading in a northeastern direction we reached the hamlet of Gammel Forlev and the 14 km mark. Here we had another small detour due to lacking E6 path signs. However being on alert from the first mishap, this time we only had to backtrack some 200 meters. From Gammel Forlev we left the paved surfaces and instead went along a footpath and bridge that crossed the marshes surrounding Vårby river and along the excavated/reconstructed old viking stronghold of Trelleborg. 




From Trelleborg we were back on paved surfaces and backcountry roads for several kilometers before taking a short break on top of the first plus 50 m hill of the day, among prehistoric graves and stone cairns. The view was nice, and the weather was exceptionally warm for october, so it called for a good refreshment of water and fernet. 




Heading eastwards form the hill, we rambled in the direction of Slagelse while chewing some nice beef jerky, a hiking companion almost as useful as the fernet.

We entered Slagelse just around the 20 km mark, and spent the next 4 km crossing the southern part of the city. On the eastern outskirts of Slagelse we had a stop at the ruins of Antvorskov monastery, which was once an imposing structure. Today the ruins lay as a small wedge between Slagelse and the highway that circumvents the city. Shortly after the ruin we crossed the highway and then entered the military training grounds (partially open to the public) of the Antvorskov military base. Crossing over 1 km of training ground, we came to the entrance of Nykobbel forest just as we hit the 25 km mark.

 



From here the next 11 km were through unbroken forest, although different parts of the forest had differing names. The landscape was beautiful with the forest in autumn colors, and a shot of fernet to keep us warm. 
This part of the route E6 also had somewhat more signs, and although some critical junctions were still missing signs, we managed to get through the entire forest without any backtracking, sidetracking or any other kind of inappropriate tracking whatsoever.  





Emerging from the forest at the edge of the village of Lynge Eskilstrup, we already had 36 km in the bag, but energy levels were still high all in all three of us. Carsten and Ture kept advocating for extending the trip to 50 or even 60 km but as the clock was nearing in on 17, we had only an hour and a half of sunlight left. Around the same time we got our first view of lake Tystrup in the distance.




In Lynge Eskilstrup we found a couple of benches where we could enjoy some of the evening sun while savouring some beef jerky and sipping a nice cup of Fernet. Afterwards we went the last 500 meters down to the lakeshore of the beautiful lake Tystrup. 



Arriving at the shore we were somewhat pleasantly surprised to see that the lakeshore was an actual beach, and with the wind making some moderate waves on the lake, it felt more like a seashore than an inland lake shore. 

The landscape along the lake was very scenic and we followed the shore for about 1 km, before heading steeply uphill, and northwards towards Carstens hometown of Sorø.




On top of the hill we passed the 39 km mark for the day, and had a panoramic view of lake Tystrup and the surrounding area. 




The final 5 km to the trainstation in Sorø we followed a main road, with some trafic and delighted in the fact that we would reach Sorø as the evening light was turning to night darkness.

In Sorø we took one last sip of the Fernet, which was by this time almost empty.








Sunday, July 4, 2010

Garmish-Partenkirchen - Mutkopf

Having spent the night in Garmish-Partenkirchen, and consumed a good size breakfast at the hostel, we took the train to Innsbruck. Unfortunately this time we ran out of good DB offers, and ended up paying full price for the section.
From Innsbruck we were to take a train to Roppen from where we would begin hiking. Before we boarded the next train in Innsbruck, we did however have time to buy supplementary food for the following days - including mandatory Red Bulls for immediate consumption.



When we got of at Roppen (780 meters above sea surface) we were met with a humid wall of warm air with a temperature about 32 degrees celsius. We drank some water, repacked our rucksacks and fastend all the stuff that hung more or less loose on the bags. It was now around 14:00 in the afternoon and we were ready to set out on the first hike of our trip.
From the trainstation we had about 100 meters to the start of the Forchheimer Weg trail, which marked the beginning of our ascent of the Mutzeiger (2275 m).










The first hour the weather was cloudy, with small rainstorms passing nearby (although only one passed above us). We entered the forest almost right away, but there was no refuge from the warmth in the shade, as the high humidity kept us constantly overheated.



The first stretch up hill went easily with high spirits and all, but pretty fast the moderate but unforgiving incline was melting us down. During this initial ascent we saw a couple of motorcross motorcyclists, which were more the last people we would meet in the next 24 hours.



It took us about 3,5 hours to get to the Maisalm hut (1660 m) where we made dinner (freezedried chill con carne) on the primus and enjoyed the spectacular views.

From Maisalm we had a rather nasty incline for 1,5-2 km up to the Mutkopf (1990 m). This section took us quite some time to get through, as we were a getting bit tired. However we finally made it, with 1 hour of daylight still left, to pitch up our telt and explore the surroundings.



Saturday, October 24, 2009

Berlin to Garmish-Partenkirchen

The second day of our expedition started out as Adrian and I woke up simultaniously at 6:55 - 5 minutes before our alarms were to go off.
Ten minutes later we were standing at the reception with everything packed and our bedsheets in our hands.



As we got our deposit back and went towards the U-bahn station we congratulated ourselfs on the military-like efficiency with which we had begun the day. Approximately half an hour later we were back on Berlin Hbf. where we got some breakfast, and coffee which were to be consumed on the way.



The day was to be spent inside the warm and secure bowel of a number of benign DB trains - using the übercool "Schönes Wochende" ticket which allowed the both of us to get from Berlin to Garmish-Partenkirchen for the sum of €35 equalling €17.5 pro capite (the price would have been the same if we were 5 people making it a whopping €7 pro capite).

Our first connection was to be Berlin Hbf.-Falkenberg am Elster a pleasent ride with a nearly empty train where we had time to wake up and eat our breakfast.
One of the passengers also decided to bless when he was getting off at his station, adding to the pleasant anticipatory feeling of seeing the Alps that lay ahead.

In Falkenberg we had 10 minutes before our next train arrived, this one nearly filled with travellers of who many seemed to be using the "Schönes Wochende" offer.

A couple of hours later we had arrived in Leipzig. We had about half an our before our next connection towards Gera, this time was spent on walking around the trainstation and resulted in the purchase of a couple of Currywursts which were devoured in the train towards Gera were we had a quick shift to the next train, which was to take up to Hof (in Bavaria).

From Hof we were travelling along the German/Chech border.
A bit further southwards as the border was still further to the east of our location, we were instead following the western outskirts of the dense Bavarian Forest all the way to Regensburg.

In Regensburg we had the next connection taking us to München where we had time to get some Red Bull before entering the last train of the day, which was to take us to Garmish-Partenkirchen.
As we sat down in this train, and drank our Red Bulls, the taurin and coffein uplifted our spirits, which had been dulled quite a bit by spending the entire day sitting in warm trains.
As the train set out from München Hbf. we were already plastered to one window each, scouting for a first glimpse of the majestic alps.

As we passed Starnberg and traveled alongside the lakeshore of Starnberger See there was a clear view and we could already see the Alps towering up in the background still some 40-50 km away.


Half an hour later out train mellowly rode into Garmish-Partenkirchen trainstation with a little delay.

Our hostel (Hostel 2962) was located only 100 meters from the trainstation, and as we were checking in we found out that some mix-up had occured.

We ended up getting our own room with a bathroom put only paid the price for a dorm room, as this was what we had ordered via hostels.com when making reservations.

By now it was early evening and we had to get some dinner. After going around town, we ended up at a Burger King on the train station, and by 22:00 we were back "home" in our hostel room planning the hike of the following day before taking a bath and going to sleep.





Thursday, August 27, 2009

List of travelled distances

Only travel related distances entered - business related excluded.

Autos

Hitchhiking - 14,250 km

  • 2002 - 2,700 km
    • Odense-Paris (return) [Denmark, Germany, France, Belgium] - 11 days (11 days travel)
  • 2003 - 3,900 km
    • Odense-Vrsar (return) [Denmark, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia] - 10 days (4 days travel)
  • 2004 - 4,900 km 
    • Odense-Berlin (return) [Denmark, Germany] - 7 days (2 days travel) - 1300 km
    • Odense-Paris-Berlin (return) [Denmark, Germany, France, Switzerland] - 14 days (5 days travel)
  • 2005 - 1,350 km
    • January
      • Odense-Berlin (return) [Denmark, Germany] - 5 days (2 days travel) - 1350 km
    • August
      • Flensburg - Vejle [Denmark] - 100 km

  • 2006 - 1,300 km
    • Piotrków Trybunalski - Odense [Poland, Germany, Denmark] - 5 days (1 day travel).


Bicycle - 1697 km

  • 2010 - 600 km
    • March-April
      • Odense-Harderwijk [Denmark, Germany, Netherlands]

  • 2008 - 712 km
    • May
      • Odense-Frøbjerg (return) [Denmark] - 1 day - 55 km.
    • July
      • Hamburg-Rudolstadt [Germany] - 6 days - 550 km.
    • October
      • Roundtrip Ringkøbing Fjord [Denmark] - 1 day - 107 km

  • 2007 - 385 km
    • Odense-Büsum [Denmark, Germany] - 2 days - 265 km
    • Büsum-Ejdersperwerk (two-way)[Germany] - 1 day - 40 km
    • Büsum-Brunsbüttel-St. Michaelsberg [Germany] - 1 day - 80 k
Hiking/Wandering - 311 km

  • 2009 - 171 km
    • November
      • Sönderåsen National Park [Sweden] - 1 day - 15 km.
    • May
      • Öetztal Alps [Austria] - 5 days - 95 km
    • March
      • Odense-Aarup [Denmark] - 1 day - 34 km
    • January
      • Faaborg-Ballen [Denmark] - 1 day - 27 km

  • 2002 - 70 km
    • Odense-Middelfart [Denmark] - 2 days - 70 km 

  • 2001 - 70 km
    • Odense-Æbelø [Denmark] - 2 days (55 km on first day) - 70 km


Sailing in total 288 nautical miles


By sail - 207 nautical miles

  • 2008 - 183 nautical miles
    • Nyborg-Nakskov-Aabenraa-Middelfart-Bogense (5 days on board "Fulton").
  • 2007 - 24 nautical miles
    • Bogense - Æbelø (2 times)
By engine - 81 nautical miles


  • 2009 - 3 nautical miles
    • November
      • Helsingborg [Sweden] - Helsingør [Denmark] - 3 nm

  • 2007 - 78 nautical miles
    • July
      • Bøjden - Fynshav [Denmark] - 8 nm
      • Büsum - Helgoland [Germany] (return) - 70 nm

Trains - 10184 km

  • 2010 - 1180 km
    • March
      • Bremen-Oldenburg-Cloppenburg [Germany] - 80 km
    • April
      • Harderwijk - Amsterdam [Netherlands] - 70 km
      • Amsterdam - Odense [Netherlands, Germany, Denmark] - 1030 km

  • 2009 - 3195 km
    • November
      • Helsingør - Odense - 210 km
      • Klippan - Helsingborg [Sweden] - 37 km
      • Odense - Stehag [Sweden] (3 hours) - 243 km
    • May
      • Odense - Berlin (1 day) - 620 km
      • Berlin - Garmish-Partenkirchen (1 day) - 750 km
      • Garmish-Partenkirchen - Innsbruck - Roppen (1 day) - 120 km
      • Lermoos - Garmish-Partenkirchen (20 min) - 25 km
      • Garmish-Partenkirchen - München (1,5 h) - 90 km
      • München - Odense (13 h) - 1100 km.
    • March
      • Aarup - Odense (20 min) - 22 km
    • January
      • Svendborg - Odense (45 min) - 44 km 

  • 2008 - 1200 km
    • July
      • Rudolstadt - Odense (14 h) - 780 km
      • Rudolstadt - Saalfeld (return 1h) - 20 km
      • Odense - Hamburg (4 h) - 300 km

  • 2007 - 1843 km
    • July
      • Esbjerg - Odense - 140 km
      • Stansted - Croydon (return) [UK]- 170 km
      • Piotrków Trybunalski - Czestochowa (return) [Poland] - 160 km
      • Piotrków Trybunalski - Warszawa (return)  [Poland] - 270 km
      • Berlin - Piotrków Trybunalski (13 h) - 620 km
      • Rostock - Berlin [Germany] (3 h) - 230 km
      • Odense-Gedser - 230 km
      • St. Michaelsdon - Büsum [Germany] (1 h) - 23 km

  • 2006 -

  • 2005 - 2700 km
    • August
      • Odense - Zagreb [Denmark, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia] - (34 h) - 1750 km.
      • Munich - Flensburg [Germany] (16 h) - 950 km.



    Sunday, August 2, 2009

    Berlin May 2009

    Setting of on an Alpine Hike (Öetztal Alps) with my brother Adrian Bak in late May 2009 we started out with a day in Berlin.

    I started out my day around 6 am, getting up to pack the last things into my backpack and making some breakfast for my daughter, my girlfriend and me. Around 7 am i delivered my little girl in the daycare center and then met up with my brother around 7:30, time enough to get to the train-station where our train for Fredericia departed a little past eight.

    We had gotten a pretty good deal on our train tickets paying around € 50 per person traveling with DSB in Denmark and DB in Germany. We had another shift in Hamburg where we shifted from to an Intercity-express (ICE) high speed train.
    The 300 km from Hamburg to Berlin took around 1½ hour with speeds being around 260 km/h. Normally the speed is about 280 km/h and DB staff came around with complimentary sandwiches, juice, water and chocolate as a apology for the 20 km/h speed reduction.

    So as usual I can only highly recommend traveling with DB, for they are truly wizards of transportation.

    We arrived in Berlin a little after 2 pm at Berlin Hbf. and quickly took the S-bahn to our downtown hostel (Baxpax) where we were going to sleep in a 48 person dorm.

    From here on it was time for getting supplies for our mountain hike, so we set of to the Backpacker grand cathedral also know as the Globetrotter store.
    At the store I got a jacket and we supplied ourself with rope, canteens, dried food, compass, carbines (just to get that mountaineer feeling), maps and much, much more.

    After visiting the Globetrotter store we were a whole lot of equipment heavier and a whole lot of money lighter. However we were now only missing some sunglasses (Swiss army glacier goggles) which we were to buy at an army store by Schönhauser Allé.

    After buying some sunglasses to (in a really cool army store called 'Trash Clothing') we went back to our hostel with our stuff, locked it up and went out on a little sightseeing.

    Having been to Berlin numerous times in the past decade I had some favorite places I wanted to show my brother. So we wallowed down southwards from our hostel and just wandered through the city and took some pictures.

    Before long we had wandered to Checkpoint Charlie and from there we passed into my favorite Berlin borough Kreuzberg.
    Here we wandered up Oranienstrasse toward the lively area around Kottbusser Tor or Am Kotti as the locals call it.
    When we got there night had fallen upon the city and the area was bursting with the relaxed and rebellous atmosphere.

    It was this atmosphere that made me fall in love with this part of Berlin back in 2003 when I came around a couple of times to visit my stepsister Stine who was studying at the Humboldt university and lived in a WG (wohngemeinshaft) with some nice and relaxed young Germans in Kreuzberg.

    Ever since my first Berlin exploration in 2003 I seem to be driven compulsively to the city, and being there again with my brother, even though just for one night, renewed the strength of the invisible strings that draw me this way every time I set out on a southbound trip.



    After getting a Döner and a drink in Kreuzberg we took the U-bahn from Kottbusser Tor to Kurfürstendamm (Ku-damm) and then further on to Alexander Platz (Am Alex). By then the clock was ticking towards 2 am, and as we had to get up by 7 am we went back to our hostel and hit our bunk-beds just around 2 am.

    Tuesday, January 27, 2009

    Hiking in the Fionic Alps

    As we crossed into 2009 I thought it would be nice to take a winter day trip exploring the southern parts of my home island. I asked my brother if he would join me on this little expedition and luckily he was ready to team up against the cold and wet elements of nature. As we were only on a one day trip there was no need for heavy backpacking and we ended up with all necessities in just one half-filled bag.

    We took the bus from our hometown of Odense and after one hour we were on location in the hills of Svanninge (Svanninge Bakker). It was 10 in the early noon (definately late to start hiking, but it was the first bus this sunday). The sky was covered with a thick white blanket which extended all the way to the ground leaving the visibility round 200 meters.
    We started out by visiting the observation tower, but did not get any good view because of the foggy conditions
    .

    As we went down from the observation tower we began our hike by following the marked hiking path "Sydhavsstien" which runs along the southern coast and hills of Funen, Tåsinge and Langeland for a total of 220 km. We quickly ascended one of the highest hills in the area Lerbjerg (126 meters) and with the fog slowly lifting we got a little bit of a view of the newly reinstated heath. From the hilltop we walked downwards for some kilometers through the back country with forests, field and farms before passing through the village of Diernæs.

    After Diernæs we went by an old church ruin and round one of the numerous mansions that lay scattered round Funen, before turning south towards the sea.

    On the way to the southern shores we passed some old rail tracks, now only being used for veteran trains. This provided a good opportunity for a classic picture for which my brother volunteered.

    From there we had a couple of kilometers of farmland to cross (including the nice smells of manure) before reaching the village of Åstrup where we had a little lunch.


    After Åstrup the Øhavsstien hiking trail that we were following went from following tractor-trails to just a narrow patch following the wateredge of the Nakkebølle lake, which is a wetland area restored in 2003 (read more).

    A couple of kilometers down the coast we reached the Fjællebro marina, where we found a bench to rest on while we boiled some hot chocolate before continuing down the coast. At this point we had hiked some 15 km following the Øhavstien.

    The next 7 km were a bit more wet than the first part as we were walking along the beach, crossing large patches of marsh and small creeks. Some parts of the trail were upgraded with wooden plancks to avoid mud and water but we still manag
    ed to get our shoes a bit wet here and there.

    The
    last part of our hike was intended to bring us up through the Syltemade Å valley. However the valley was flooded with som 20 cm water so we had to turn around an just follow the paved road to Vester Skerninge from where we took a bus to Svendborg and then a train to Odense.

    All in all it was a nice start on the hiking season all in all 27 km with a vertical climb of about 140 m. Including breaks we walked for some 7 hours, so it was a nice and easy tempo.
















    Hike route 115993 - powered by Wandermap